 Excellencies, distinguished delegates, ladies and gentlemen, a very good morning to you. I know we have probably a shorter period of time than originally anticipated. My name is Yit Nage Tacho, I'm with the International Organization for Migration, I'm the Division Head for Migrant Assistance and Protection. That was a very interesting session, the first session during which in a nutshell I think we were looking at how safe, coordinated and inclusive human mobility would help the world on its recovery path from the COVID-19 pandemic. It's my pleasure now to welcome you to this session on protection of vulnerable migrants during and beyond the COVID-19 crisis. The idea behind this session is to see how we can expand the inclusion that we spoke about in the first session to migrants who are vulnerable and ensure that they are empowered to assist in the recovery from the pandemic. I had extensive notes on this but most of what I wanted to say has been covered in the first session. Actually I think we can all agree that almost everyone has become vulnerable due to the pandemic. Nevertheless, when we speak about vulnerability of vulnerable migrants, we are essentially looking at vulnerability to abuse, exploitation, deprivation and neglect. The questions that we would like to see to examine during this session would include what new vulnerabilities have arisen as a result of the pandemic among this vulnerable group, already vulnerable group. What kind of challenges have vulnerable migrants faced because of the pandemic? What policy changes need to be put in place to empower them and be included in the recovery path? And finally, I think and probably most importantly, how should we relook at our emergency responses to make sure that they reach these vulnerable populations? To discuss this, we have a very interesting and diverse panel consisting of government, non-government, UN and other international organizations representative there from. We have about an hour and 45 minutes from what I understand. Without further ado, I would like to introduce the first speaker, Honorable Sara Ariola, Secretary for Migrant Workers Affairs of the Department of Foreign Affairs, the Philippines. Her Honorable has served as the Chief of Staff of the Office of the Majority Leader at the Senate of the Philippines, Committee Secretary of the Senate Rules Committee and Director for Investigation of the Senate Blue Ribbon Oversight Office Management. Before joining public service, she has worked as a lawyer of Ateno Human Rights Center and was Program Officer of the Working Groups for ASEAN Human Rights Mechanism. She used to teach administrative law, election law, and law on public officers in Ateno Law School. I'm glad to welcome you to this session and I appreciate very much your willingness to join this discussion at such a late hour on your end. It must be very, very late there. You have the floor, Madam. Do we have Madam Ariola online? We seem to be plagued with IT problems today. Perhaps we should go, perhaps we can go to the other speakers then. I would then like to take the opportunity to introduce Nick Grono of the Freedom Fund. Nick was appointed as the inaugural CEO of the Freedom Fund in January 2014. The fund is an ambitious effort to mobilize the knowledge, capital, and will, will needed to end human trafficking. It is currently working with 100 frontline partner organizations around the world. The fund has liberated over 27,000 people directly from trafficking. Nick is also a board member of Girls North Brides. Previously, Nick was the CEO of the Walk Free Foundation, a key international actor in the fight against modern slavery. And before that, he was the deputy president and COO of the International Crisis Group, the world's leading conflict prevention NGO. Nick is a lawyer by background and worked as chief of staff to the Australian Attorney General from 1999 to 2001. Nick, thank you for joining us. The floor is yours. The opportunity to speak today at the IDM on this pressing topic. I'm going to focus my remarks on the impact of the pandemic on some of the most vulnerable migrants, namely those who are at risk of being trafficked or have in fact been trafficked into forced and bonded labor. The pandemic has a devastating impact on this highly vulnerable population. Around the world, communities are already suffering from poverty and exploitation, and they are born in the brunt of the pandemic and its economic fallout. In addition to their health emergency, government mandated lockdowns have left huge numbers of people, especially migrant workers and women and children in a heightened state of vulnerability. Lack of care, food, shelter and transport for migrant workers to their homes were critical immediate impacts. As factories and sweatshops have closed down production, workers, including traffic child laborers, found themselves locked in shuttered workplaces or put out in the street with no means to support themselves or fund their return home. From cotton mills of India to the labour camps in the Gulf, many of those who can least afford it are resorting to high interest loans from local money lenders to obtain food and shelter or to pay emergency medical bills, putting them at risk of falling into debt bondage or further into bondage if they are already there. More families are sending their children into work or marrying them off early as a way of coping with the economic shockdown that has hit them over the last eight months. In reviewing the response efforts to the crisis, our organisation has found that a clear picture has emerged not only of its short-term impact but also the trends likely to persist into the long term. The economic cut-down has fueled opportunities for abuse and exploitation of the most vulnerable. That much is obvious. But what is also clear is that the crisis has put at risk many of the hard-won gains of recent years in many areas, including labour rights, gender equality and child protection. There are two mutually reinforcing trends which are putting pressure on labour rights. The first is that millions of labourers, and particularly migrant workers, are suffering increased deprivation and desperation. And the second is that the global recession is driving down demand for workers. This has shifted the balance of bargaining power for the favour of employers. And some are using it to further exploit workers. We are seeing play out everywhere that we are working today. In Thailand, migrant workers in the seafood industry are being sacked illegally or having their wages withheld. In India, migrant workers in cotton spinning mills are being forced to accept longer hours and lower pay. And we can give examples in many, many other countries. Order cancellations by international clothing brands are being used in some factories in particular as a cover to crack down on unions. The rights of women and children are also under threat. Domestic violence and child abuse during the crisis have risen around the world as lockdowns and school closures remove vital protection mechanisms and left women and children at the mercy of their abusers. These risks are exacerbated when the male head of the family has migrated for work. And amongst the world's poorest populations, the effect of being severe. We are receiving numerous reports of increases in early enforced marriage, child labour and child abuse. Parents are having to go out and find informal jobs despite the lockdown, leaving out-of-school children unattended and vulnerable to exploitation by others. Amidst this dark picture, there are rays of light. And our research highlights the success and life-saving importance of community initiatives in particular, where governments fail to deliver swift assistance or identify the most vulnerable. Front-line organisations already knew where help was most urgently needed and were able to quickly mobilise at low cost. They were able to work with the authorities to help channel official aid to those on the margins and advocate for the rights of groups who might otherwise fall between them or be taken advantage of. This was particularly important for migrants who were otherwise not recognised by local authorities. As the international donor community is increasingly coming around to the idea of localisation of aid, it can build on the wealth of front-line initiatives already being modelled and play a key role in boosting their capacity. But there can be little doubt that the crisis has dealt a heavy blow to those at highest risk of exploitation. And only concerted action can prevent tragic long-term consequences. But however challenging and unprecedented the situation is, all government need to hold human rights and maintain pressure on business, not to renege on their commitments to ethical practices. And businesses themselves must not allow action of their bottom lines to mean that the exploitation of, to lead to the exploitation of ever more vulnerable migrant workers. While it is inevitable that a pandemic will cause great hardship, it is unacceptable that it be used as an excuse by governments and businesses to turn back the clock on human rights and protection of migrants. Thank you very much. Thank you, Nick. That was very, very interesting and on time. I see Madam Arayola has been able to join us. If you can hear me, please proceed. The floor is yours. Thank you. Yes, okay. Mr. Chair, Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, thank you for giving the Philippines the opportunity to share its experience in responding to the needs of vulnerable migrants during this pandemic. The Philippines has for over four decades now worked to bring coherence on migration governance policies, putting principles into practice when dealing with bilateral and multilateral partners. In our view, the 23 objectives of the Global Compact for Safe Orderly and Regular Migration helps frame issues of international migration, human rights and social protection. The objectives provide a basis for common understanding on shared responsibilities of nations, keeping in mind that all governments engage in human mobility regardless of where we are individually on the spectrum of implementing these objectives. A milestone for the Philippines in implementing the GCM is the creation of a standalone chapter on ensuring safe orderly and regular migration in the Philippine Development Plan 2017 to 2022 midterm update. This chapter articulates a renewed focus on internationally agreed frameworks on migration, such as the GCM, the ASEAN consensus on the protection and promotion of the rights of migrant workers, bilateral labor agreements and NOMUs, among others. We are setting protocols for domestic workers, a standardized framework on international migration data, access to government services for overseas Filipinos, social protections in the form of universal health coverage, and social security agreements measures to ensure security and safety. Platforms for emergency response, legal aid, counseling and guidance, initiatives to make information and communication accessible, reduction of international remittance costs, financial inclusion for migrants in countries of destination, and employment facilitation for returnees. The development of the chapter's framework is rooted in our final commitment to implement the GCM. The pandemic struck and many of our migrant workers found themselves stranded on land and sea all over the world, the work that we have already been doing with international organizations and bilateral partners paid dividends. Our foreign service posts and our agencies in the capital collaborated with host governments to provide immediate relief to facilitate repatriation where possible, despite lockdowns and border closures, to provide recourse such as financial assistance, consular services, access to health services, testing and treatment, and to extend temporary residence permits for those who could not be brought home. For a developing country like the Philippines, where remittances for migrants account for 9.3% of GDP, we know what this large-scale repatriation of migrant workers means for our economy. We are mandated by law to protect the interests of Filipinos abroad and as of yesterday, the Philippines has repatriated more than 217,000 overseas Filipinos at the cost of more than US$2 million. For a small country like the Philippines, these measures are costly. They are not easy to implement. They are, however, necessary to get our people to safety and to get them back home. I would like to present our efforts, which can be summarized into five R's. Relief, repatriation, recovery, return, and reintegration. Relief. The Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs through its foreign service posts has been providing assistance to the stressed overseas Filipinos in the form of financial and welfare assistance. Temporary shelter and eventually repatriation. In addition, our Department of Labor and Employment extended a one-time $200 cash aid for overseas Filipino workers. The program has been able to provide fast, secure, and contactless financial assistance. The Philippines notes, however, the need to address wage theft among migrant workers. This refers to those who have been terminated from their jobs and are forced to return to their countries of origin without receiving their wages, Jews, and benefits. The Philippines, through its foreign service posts, has been extending legal advice and assistance related to salary claims for displaced overseas Filipino workers in countries of destination whose contracts were terminated due to the pandemic. Repatriation. Repatriation under the lens of public health consciousness is not new to us. That is, as it is for most governments. While repatriation flights have been done before through being home from natural disasters or situations of conflict, this is the first time the Philippines is doing it at a time of peace and while wearing PPEs. The very first repatriation flight mounted by the Philippine government was for Wuhan, China, when it was still the epicenter of the COVID-19 outbreak. As COVID-19 gradually spread globally this year, the first wave of Filipino repatriates came from the cruise ship or cruise line industry. There are hundreds of thousands of Filipinos who work as seafarers. You can see them in the entertainment, hospitality, catering, engine, and navigational divisions on board the cruise ships. When international borders started to close in March, the cruise line industry was heavily hit. Our embassies and consulates around the world worked tirelessly to make representations with their host governments to allow our seafarers to disembark in their country to take their onward flight to Manila. Whether a cruise ship was in the Caribbean, in North America, in Europe, in Asia, or in the Pacific Islands, the Philippine government working hand-in-hand with the cruise line companies and demanding agencies was able to bring home more than 70,000 of our seafarers for more than 135 cruise ships. The Philippine government has faced all kinds of challenges in its repatriation efforts. One particular effort that comes to mind is the repatriation of our nationals in Uzbekistan, where the Philippines has no embassy and no honorary consulate. There was also a total lockdown at the time, thus commercial flights were prohibited. The repatriation had to be operated remotely with planning and coordination conducted primarily through online channels. In the end, the Philippine government was able to bring home 257 Overshift Filipinos, many of whom had been stranded in Uzbekistan for several months. Let me express our thanks to Uzbekistan for allowing our chartered plane to land and for issuing exit visas to our repatriates. To date, we have repatriated more than 217,000 migrant workers. Recovery. Every returning Filipino is required to undergo RTPCR testing at the airport and mandatory quarantine in a hotel facility pending the release of their negative results. If they test positive, they are brought to a strict quarantine facility or a medical facility, depending on their state of health. The swab test, the hotel quarantine and the meals of Overshift Filipinos are all free of charge. This is an interagency effort of the Philippine government, along with the private sector, specifically the cruise line companies and many agencies, reflected of our whole-of-nation approach. Return. Since the Philippines is an archipelago, many returning Overshift Filipinos have to fly to their final destination city. Thus, the Philippine government arranges and pays for the domestic flights of returning Overshift Filipino workers after the test negative for COVID-19. To streamline the return phase, a prior coordination is made with the local governments to alert them of the arrival and reintegration to the local communities of the repatriated Filipinos. Finally, reintegration. Most of these repatriated Filipinos are eagerly waiting to get back to the workforce. As they await their deployment, whether locally or internationally, current initiatives under the reintegration phase include loan programs to provide working capital for startups, scholarship programs for dependents returning Overshift Filipino workers, financial literacy trainings, as well as cash relief assistance. Repatriated Filipinos are also entitled to free risk scaling or upscaling programs of the Philippine government. One such measure is the training of returning Filipinos to be contact tracers for the Philippine government. The role of contact tracers is crucial in the fight against COVID-19. The Philippine government has also assured that continued support for returning migrant workers by providing them scholarship programs that will not only improve their skills, but also teach them the new skills while they wait to be deployed. Finally, it is worthy to highlight the crucial role of international assistance and cooperation during this pandemic. The Philippines appreciates the assistance of countries of destination in allowing the entry of Philippine sweeper and mercy flights into their borders. We also take this opportunity to thank countries like the Kingdom of Bahrain, providing or providing all-flexive visa holders among them Filipinos with $235 financial assistance during the pandemic. While government action in the migration cycle ordinarily starts with pre-departure phase, this was all changed by the COVID-19 pandemic. It required the Philippines and the rest of the world to focus its attention on the repatriation, return, and reintegration aspects of migration. As we responded to our distressed migrant workers through the five hours of relief, repatriation, recovery, return, and reintegration, the Philippines did not need to redesign the wheel. We simply had to honor our commitment to breathe life into the provisions of the GCM. We sincerely hope that other countries can join us as we believe that we could do so much more on this road we are walking, where human mobility and the achievement of sustainable development goals are aligned. Thank you. Thank you, Madam. We really appreciate it. Once again, our apologies for having kept you up this late at that end of the world. More importantly, I think you have highlighted the important social, economic, and legal challenges that have arisen when it comes to the protection of migrants, especially migrant workers, the challenge and complications that are related to return, which has increasingly emerged as a protection measure, and the crucial nature of cooperation between countries, which emphasize towards the end of your presentation. I think this goes very well with the points that Nick was making initially on the centrality of human rights, guiding our actions that are aimed at protecting vulnerable migrants, and also recognizing the heightened vulnerability of certain individuals. Now turning our attention to law enforcement, I would say, please let me also welcome Mr Andre Silva, coordinator, Migrant Smuggling Unit of Interpol. Mr Andre Silva started his police career as lieutenant at the Portuguese police. After four years commanding a police station in Lisbon, he moved to the police national intelligence department, where he stayed for six years and undertook various functions. From unit coordinator to police trainer, always with a particular emphasis on tracking and monitoring organized crime groups. His work at the intelligence department provided him with the opportunity to work overseas as a liaison officer for the Portuguese police in different operational activities. In 2017 Mr Silva joined Interpol, and in 2019 was tasked with the leadership of the smuggling of migrants unit. In this role, he continues to support the development of police capabilities of Interpol member states. It's a pleasure to have you with us today, sir. The floor is yours. Thank you, dear moderator. Can you hear me correctly? Yes, we can. Please proceed. Okay, perfect. First of all, Mr. Director General Antonio Vitorino, your ex-alice, ladies and gentlemen, on behalf of Interpol, general secretariat, vulnerable communities of directorate, I would like to express our gratitude for the invitation and to have the opportunity to participate in this important event. Also a special word of gratitude to the IOM colleagues that are supporting the organization and the logistic of this event. It is critical for us that even during the current COVID-19 measures, we continue to participate. We continue to discuss and see new approaches on how to protect the most vulnerable, and this for us is of critical importance. So, going directly to my presentation and briefly mentioning what Interpol vulnerable communities of directorate is developing in the protection of the vulnerable migrants during and beyond the COVID-19 crisis, I will say that we drive our actions and activities by three main pillars. As you know, Interpol has the law enforcement agencies worldwide as the key stakeholders. So one of the main and more important actions that we have is the connection of law enforcement agencies across the globe. We also aim to provide these law enforcement agencies a wide range of tools, instruments and capabilities to assure that the response in this protection is still updated and it's as most effective as possible. And we of course try to develop effective exchange of information on criminal networks. Of course, if you look at before COVID, these were exactly the same principles that drive our intervention. However, after and as soon as the COVID-19 crisis started, a key focus and the key importance was drawn to the importance of having countries and our member countries receiving reliable and updated information on criminal networks. As you know, we were all impacted by this current crisis. At law enforcement level, there was a new priority that was defined at many countries by their national authorities in terms of assessing the control of the mitigation measures that were introduced to fight the spread of this disease. And there was also the implementation of more checks or more extensive checks at border crossing points. So there was a clear notion at our vulnerable communities have directed to really put a focus on supporting member countries in providing them with solid intelligence reports that could guide them and support them in the different actions that they were putting in place to protect the most vulnerable. We provide to our member countries a wide range of support. And because of the restrictions in terms of timing, I will really be keen on the two elements that we found of most importance in terms of this adaptation to the current situation, as I just mentioned before. And it's clearly on the criminal analysis and in providing reliable data to our member countries law enforcement agencies. This is something that it's keen because with the COVID-19 crisis and with the disruption of many air, many flights, connections, we and this increase of border control at border crossing points, there was and countries were struggling in terms of law enforcement level in terms of resources. There was importance to provide them with current intel on what was this most operative weather adapting, what migrants and especially the most vulnerable were now much more exposed in terms of their traveling and what were being detected as in the different countries around the globe. And this is quite important because it allowed us to really put an emphasis not only in terms of the info sharing from the law enforcement perspective, but also in terms of a wider information sharing with the wider audience and wider stakeholders. As many of the previous participants referred quite well, this is a problem that even if you look at the crime perspective, there's a need and there's an importance to bring to the table not only law enforcement, but also judicial authorities, law makers and also aid sector and other international organizations. In this information sharing, I like also to spend a little bit of time on explaining some of our tools that we provide to all of our 194 member countries, that is the specialized groups on smuggling of migrants and human trafficking human beings, that is the ISON and HTECH networks. These networks and I will put a bit of emphasis on the HTECH network, the human traffic expert group. It's a network that combines not only representatives from law enforcement, but also representatives from other international organizations, regional organization, non-governmental organizations that we can use to really on very timely manner, very accurate. We can discuss trends and impacts that measures that are being issued during the COVID-19 crisis have impacted the migrants. We want to understand how how impact her air routes by was, well the air routes as you know were tremendously impacted by the reception of commercial flights. This caused a tremendous impact of many lands and sea routes. There was an increased level of exposure of the migrants, especially the most vulnerable to really dangerous and inhuman conditions in their traveling. So this is critical to assure that when we are talking to our law enforcement agents worldwide, we provide them with the reliable intelligence to assure that their response on the ground, on local level, can be as much effective as possible. So and in and of and resuming what we aim in terms of way forward, clearly there's a and this COVID-19 really put an emphasis on the need to have a better inter-agency cooperation. Unfortunately, we do have at Interpol solid cooperation agreements with key partner organizations such as IOM, such as UNODC, and this is the right way that we need to work together to assure that we can provide to, we at global level, at international level, can provide to whoever is in the national level or local level a better vision of reality to assure that they can use more efficiently their resources, their response can be much more effective. And I'm talking not only to the orange countries, the transit countries, and to the destination countries. There's a clear way, the clear, the way forward, it's clear for us that needs to be a combined effort. And only by doing this will be allowing to increase the provision of our response. And with that, I hope I was brief enough to end my presentation and leave room to any question that might might be posed by the panel. Thank you so much. Thank you very much, Mr. Silva. You were indeed on time. Thank you for that. It was very interesting to see the law enforcement aspect of protecting vulnerable migrants. You emphasized the need for effective information exchange, especially when it comes to fighting smuggling and trafficking of migrants, and the need for interagency cooperation, not only interagency cooperation, but cooperation in general, which was also emphasized by the previous speakers, cooperation between countries of origin, transit, and destination as well. We really appreciate it. Staying in the realms of the law, let me allow me to invite the next speaker. It's my pleasure to welcome our distinguished speaker, Ms. Isabella Atanisu, legal officer in the asylum department of the Director General, Director General for Home Affairs and Migration DG Home at the European Commission. She's the focal point of contact in DG Home on the protection of migrant children and the coordinator of legal infringement proceedings brought by her department in relation to bridges of EU asylum law. Isabella holds a PhD in EU law from the European University Institute in Florence, Italy. Thank you very much for being here today. I invite you to take the floor. Thank you very much for inviting me. I hear a straight call. When I speak, I hear my call. It's fine from this end. Please proceed. Okay. I wanted to talk to you in my brief set of answers about, sorry, I have to lower the volume. I do not manage to concentrate. I wanted to speak to you about the protection that we offer to migrant children in the context of EU policies. So I wanted to focus in particular on for the first of all to tell you a little bit why the protection of migrant children is important for the European Union. Second of all to tell you what is the framework within which we work on the protection of migrant children as present. Then make a few references to the background asylum and migration and particularly for migrant children and asylum that have been already been referred to in the first panel today. You have heard the previous speaker from the about that. And then ultimately I wanted to say a few words about the specific challenges that the pandemic is raising in terms of delivering our commitment for the protection of migrant. In terms of context, it is important to understand that there is a large number of children who arrive as migrants to the European Union and are in need of protection. The children continue to be a notable share of the migrants who arrived in Europe as a matter of fact. In 2019, from about 125,000 irregular arrivals to the EU via the Mediterranean route, 27 percent were children and a good part of them were actually unaccompanied by a parent or relative responsible for them, which is a category of children who, as we know, are particularly vulnerable and need for specific protection. Part of those who arrived unaccompanied by family members or adults are, as I said, arriving to a certain number of specific countries of arrival in Europe. To give you just an example, in the first half of 2019, more than 8,000 children arrived on a company to speak to Spain, to Italy, and to China. You can find more data compiled by our colleagues from the UNHCR. I have given you a link to my recent latest facts that they made available on the subject. Also to note that, for example, in 2019, 7.1 percent of the children who arrived on asylum in the European Union were unaccompanied. So we're talking about 14,000 about asylum applications. It's also important to note that the unaccompanied children, as I said before, are not the only children who arrived, so there are a much larger number of children arriving also from children who are part of families. And there is also an important number of children who arrived to Europe as migrants, but do not apply for asylum. In terms of the framework of our policy, I wanted to say that the subject of the protection of migrant children is not the policy table. In fact, there was a perceived need for a comprehensive and targeted protection approach, notice is to late previous decades. We had, as a matter of fact, the first action plan for the protection of unaccompanied children, which was applied over the period 2010-2014. Then the migration crisis arrived in 2015 with a large number of arrivals, overwhelming protection needs, and challenges. In this context, in 2017, we adopted the policy framework. It is called the Communication on the Protection of Children with Migration. It is not binding law, it is a soft law policy. So this is a document in which the European Commission is setting to the member states' recommendations on how to enhance the protection of children with migration on various segments. The philosophy of this policy document is that we need to tackle the challenges at every step of the migration route. So there is a chapter that is devoted to external support in our partner countries, which is targeted at addressing the root causes of migration. So we are not talking only about addresses, climate change or economic challenges or conditions of war or other conditions of distress, but also a series of programs financed by the European Union in collaboration with UN agencies and with our partner countries to basically reinforce the countries of origin of children and in the countries that they transit on their routes to Europe so that they are better protected during the migration process. Then the next chapters of the communication are devoted to what actually happens after arrival in the EU. So there is a chapter which is referred to how to properly identify and register and take in charge the children, particularly those that are on a company. Then there is a whole series of recommendations and actions that have to do with providing adequate retention for the children. This returns on the one hand to accommodation, but also access to the challenges which are education, healthcare, both preventive and curative, and also a series of specific support including psychosocial support depending on the individual needs of children. Some of these children, as we well know, have specific trauma that needs to be addressed. So it's not only about physical health, but also about mental health, very frequent. Then we have a whole series of actions that are being recommended in terms of ensuring the proper protection of children and the legal guarantees that apply during the status determination. So that means during either the asylum procedure, during the processing of their asylum applications, or in other sorts of procedures for the regularization of their status, and also ultimately in some cases during the return procedures. There is a final chapter that has to do with finding the durable solutions for the children, be it that they remain in the European Union. So in that case, we are looking at integration programs, be it that they are being returned to their countries of origin, in which case we are again on addressing possible migration and on securing the proper reintegration of the child in the host society of the country of origin. We have also a series of prosecuting actions that concern all the previous chapters that I mentioned before, and that refers to training of the start dealing with children, the kind of funding that we are providing. We have some requirements for our social partners who are dealing with children, who have to implement the internal child security policies, how to provide information to the children along the whole process in a child friendly way, etc. I wanted to make a special note about the fact that the IOM is one of our crucial partners in terms of implementing all of these chapters in the case then, and I have numerous examples I could give you, but I wanted to refer in particular to the operational work that they are conducting in frontline member states such as Greece. They are one of our main partners in terms of implementing the voluntary scheme that is currently being implemented with a number of member states. So, unaccompanied children from the Greek Islands who, as you know, are in a particular overcrowding and humanitarian crisis situation are being relocated by some member states on a very voluntary basis, and the IOM is one of our main partners in organizing the whole process. They have also intervened in other member states, I could give an example of the safe zones that they constructed in the reception centers for unaccompanied minors in Bulgaria. That is, of course, the traditional work that the IOM is doing in terms of supporting returns to the country of origin. Then I would like to say a few words about the new part on asylum and migration. Basically, this is the document that is framing the reform that we want to implement in terms of our migration and policy in the European Union. There is probably many of you know, there is an ongoing reform because we would like to streamline and render more effective and more cohesive different aspects of our migration, from asylum to return and the other way for the control and all the aspects of our migration policy together. And that obviously, as it was referred, this morning includes strengthening the partnership that we have with the country. Now, this reform, we consider it an opportunity for strengthening the legal guarantees that are available to the children. And we have made some specific proposals, the legislative proposal that accompany the path that are meant to strengthen the protection of the children. All of this refers obviously to the children who are right to the European Union, they are obliged to asylum. So there is a strengthening of the principle of the best interest of the child, which is supposed to make all decisions that are taken with the children, a guarantee of the right of the children throughout the asylum and migration proceedings. The fact that unaccompanied minors should be appointed as guardian as soon as possible and within maximum 15 working days from the moment of their registration. The fact that unaccompanied minors and families with small children under 12 years old should in principle be exempted from the mandatory border procedure that is supposed to be introduced. We are going to work together with the member states to develop effective alternatives to the retention of children and their families, be it in the asylum or in the recent procedures. There will be a simplification, a clarification of the rules of the evidence required in order to have family reunification, be it in the context of transfers between member states or family reunification from the children who have already obtained the refugee status. And then a series of reinforcements of the standards for offering the services which are specific to the children, like I said, from adequate accommodation to access to education, early integration services, etc. Last, I wanted to say a few words about the challenges the pandemic has brought to delivering on all these actions that I mentioned before. First and very obvious, there is a temporary disruption of migration and asylum procedures. And here, because people were delayed, you know, offices have been closed, there wasn't possibility to carry out interviews, everything has been put so-called on hold during the lockdown. And now there are continue to be temporary disruptions in the workflow. So we put out some guidance basically where we are guiding the member states on how to stick to the rules that are imposed by the EU legislation in terms of timelines for processing the asylum and return procedures, while at the same time giving them some flexibility to deal with the challenges that are posed by the funding. The objective is to make sure that there is enough flexibility, but at the same time, that there is respect for the fundamental rights of the applicant. The child specific challenges have been mentioned numerous times today, but that's really very brief. So all the challenges that we have in terms of offering suitable protection to the migrant children in terms of accommodation access to the medical, psychosocial support, education and etc. have been, as we know, exacerbated by the pandemic. So one of the challenges that we are currently confronted with is how to resolve access to all these services, while at the same time setting in place the security and health measures that everything is done in a proper way. There has been also an interruption of resettlement and return operations, and this is another challenge that we have to deal with. And at least strangely enough or not so strangely, the pandemic has exacerbated xenophobic and racist reactions within our member states. And this is a step that we are trying to ignore and trying to deal with at the same time. I thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you very much, Madam. I could not get the opportunity to point out to you that we were running a bit out of time. Nonetheless, we really appreciate your presentation which highlighted the challenge related to the identification, the referral, and the assistance when it comes to child protection, particularly the protection of unaccompanied and separated children, including those who are seeking asylum in EU territory, much appreciated. Trying to speed up things, let me take you directly to the final speaker. I would like to introduce Ms. Thrang Hong Vu, member of UN Major Group of Children and Co-Founder of Step 4 of Education, a social enterprise in Vietnam promoting informal education. Ms. Hong Vu formerly worked at UNICEF and Peking University. She has been involved in numerous campaigns against hate speech in both Europe and Asia. She is also the management board member of VietnamCenter.org, a usually led organization focused on promoting Vietnamese culture at home and abroad. Ms. Hong Vu was featured as one of 2020 Young Southeast Asian leaders by VEDU and YSEALI. It's a pleasure to welcome you. The floor is yours. Yes, we can. Okay, I'm not sure why I can't share this screen. Anyway, I want to start to speak. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. So first of all, I would like to thank the IOM for giving the young people the opportunity to represent in this very important dialogue. And my presentations today focus on two important groups that are very close to my heart. First, international students and internal migrants. So can you please share the PowerPoint on your side so that, okay, first. Yeah, yeah, thank you. So why these two groups? So first of all, I used to be international student and I'm sure that all of us in this room used to be international students or educational migrants. And the second group, internal migrant, street vendors, taxi drivers, especially in Southeast Asian countries. I grew up in Hanoi and consuming a lot of product services from these groups of people that provided a full services for people from different backgrounds. So unfortunately, I'm not able to provide any statistics on these two groups. I conducted these research on my own and these were qualitative research. And as you can see, especially internal migrants have been kind of excluded in scholarship. So first of all, how COVID induced immobility has been affecting these migrants. So these two groups have been depending on internal international mobilities as well as precarious employment for living. Next slide. So during the COVID outbreak, I was very fortunate to go back to my home country and able to work from home. However, the international students have been abroad for international experiences. And unfortunately, they have been guests in both their home countries and host countries. Some of them have been stranded in the third countries due to close borders. And please remember that the COVID outbreak occurred at the end of January. So it was the end of the first semester for many students. And unfortunately, many of them have become double renters because they have to pay for the accommodation in both the host country and the third country where they were in. Like any researchers, I had to do fieldwork online. Many people, I used to work for Peking University prior to COVID. And I know that many students were unsure of their graduation status. And on the way back to Vietnam from China, I became the target of hate speech. I was accused of spreading the virus to my own community. Next slide, please. So here are some of the anecdotes gained from my interviews with some of the international students. So the first one from a Japanese student in China. I'm stuck on campus for three months. If I get out of campus, I wouldn't end up not being able to enter the school gate again. Her school was based in Beijing. And her experience during the school locked down. I was attending a conference abroad when I heard my government close the borders in a week. I kind of thought a flight ticket to go home right away. Now was I able to go back to my home, to my country of residence. Because my visa was suddenly suspended. Now I have to pay rent in two countries. And this was the story of a Brazilian student studying in China. I wanted to go to study abroad to benefit from international environment and a well resourced library. Now I pay for the same tuition fees while doing everything at home. And this is the story of a Vietnamese student studying in Australia. Next, please. So you can see from my examples how international students have been suffering during the COVID, their academic work and professional experiences have been affected. Not to mention the well-being, physical, financial and emotional. And these are to be solved. Next, please. So during the COVID, a lot of initiatives have been launched by the government civil society organizations, but mostly focus on educational aspect. So coaching, mentoring sessions on well-being have been provided online. Instruction on online learning, digital participators has also been offered. A number of issues on cybersecurity have been raised. And a lot of COVID storytelling has been in place in many different platforms. However, we still need more actions from the government. And fortunately, in many different countries, the visa renewals and extensions have been automatically granted for international students. Next, please. The next group I would like to talk about are internal migrant workers. And these are very diverse groups of people. I would like to talk about irregular internal workers, including street vendors, weight collectors, sex workers and taxi drivers. And especially, I conducted research with street vendors, and they depended on mobility with theme and even among the cities for living. And these are mostly middle-aged rural women. They are already very economically disadvantaged before the COVID team. They have little access to social security services in host countries, and I can speak for the case of Vietnam and China. And these people don't have household registration in the host cities, in the cities of residence. So they cannot access the basic services such as healthcare during the COVID. And of course, they can't prove their stable income, regular income. So they are mostly derived of the state aid or local assistance during the COVID. And because they are street vendors, during the local lockdown, in the case of Vietnam, we had two weeks of lockdown, they were left totally jobless, and the services and products were unusable. Two months ago, they even became the targets of the hate speech. One of the TV channels accused them of the parasites of the cities and spreading the virus to many people, which was a very unfortunate case. However, the public outcry had led these TV channels to apologize for these groups of people. Next slide, please. And here are some of these stories that they shared with me. I managed to interview them two weeks or two or three weeks after the COVID lockdown in Hanoi. I didn't understand what social distancing really meant. I went out and my foot was confiscated because I had broken the rule. Another street vendor told me I didn't have any means to access information. I didn't know that the city would be locked down the next day, so I couldn't board any bus to go home. I stayed in my shabby room during the lockdown, and my food became rotten. I could go out as a locked out or was it, but nobody was on the street. Whom should I sell my fruit to? So these are the very painful stories of those trapped during the COVID-19 mislead. But I'm very glad to see many different initiatives by young people to help out these disadvantaged people. So on the screen, you can see a very great initiative by young people inventing the rise ATM. So instead of withdrawing money, disadvantaged people can withdraw easily the rise, and this is for free. Next, please. This is also one of the great individual initiatives by one of the Vietnamese philanthropists. So the free distribution of food for the street vendors or internal migrants stranded in Hanoi. So one free pack per day is the name of the initiative. And oh, sorry for the mistake, but the government, fortunately, the government has been very flexible in providing financial aid for the freelancers. So no requirements for the labor contract. And then they could access this aid package at least for a month. And the government also provided health checkup for freelancers. So street vendors and taxi drivers with no Hanoi household registration could also access these aid. Next, please. However, we'll still need more government's involvement to help out these vulnerable groups of people. First of all, the health care services should be more regular. What I mean is we need comprehensive reforms on the household registration so that they can access the social security services even beyond the COVID-19. And capacity building programs are solely needed. What I mean is in Vietnam, we also we call the capacity building programs for unskilled workers as career transformations programs. Because as the standard of living in Hanoi has been increasing, the services provided by street vendors are no longer stress trusted. So they would need another career path for their living in the future. So with that, I end my presentations here. And thank you very much for the opportunity to speak at this conference. Thank you. Thank you very much, Ms. Hong Wu. That was very, very interesting. Really extraordinary initiatives that you highlighted from your experience. We appreciate that. You highlighted the new and emerging vulnerabilities of specific groups, especially international students and internal migrants who we don't necessarily put in the category of vulnerable migrants previously, but which we are compelled to look into as a result of the pandemic. Much appreciated. On that, to start with, we have a video message. Let's start with that. And then I will open the floor as per the request that we received. Thank you. Secretary. In representation of Colombia, it's an honor for me to be present here, to be able to see if we can, it's interpreter speaking, the sound quality is far too poor and the volume is far too low to interpret properly. Apologies. In the framework of the pandemic, the humanitarian situation has become an even greater challenge because our surveillance system has not been able to live up to what was required. It dates back to 2014, starting in 2015, more than 5 million Venezuelans have fled the country, 1,700,000 aren't Colombia and wish to remain so. In that framework, organizations of the platform that tries to coordinate the different agencies, estimates that about 2 million Venezuelans will be established in our country. Despite this, Colombia has done everything it had, everything it can, and a great spirit of solidarity has welcomed these people. President Iván Duque has given a maximum priority to health and education with programs for monetary support and socioeconomic integration. These are matters that require urgent support on an international level as well. The only goal here is to strengthen access. Migrants need to get to basic public services, distinguished ministers and colleagues. I'd like to share with you some of the measures we've taken in the current pandemic. We have done the following to protect the immigrant population. First of all, we've closed the borders because of the high epidemiological risk that could be seen in densely populated border crossings. We also wanted to provide access to healthcare regardless of nationality. We adjusted our healthcare systems so that they would be in line with recommendations of PAHO and World Health Organization. We wanted to prioritize areas such as sanitation and general healthcare. Fourth, we wanted to take care of the migrant population in the best way possible despite their vulnerability. And we also wanted to strengthen the flows of information between government and our different partners. I'd like to emphasize the central role of the IOM in all this work, especially in the implementation of the current plan, especially their co-leadership in the mixed group as well as the fluid communication between national government and local actors as well as at the international level. The coordination promoted by IOM and UNHCR in the interagency group has allowed for not only the creation of guidelines to protect the health of those in the most vulnerable population, but it also has helped protect these populations and their host communities bearing in mind the considerable impact of the pandemic and how this had repercussions on the policies decreed by government in the current context. I'd like to highlight two key aspects of IOM's response. The first that I would like to mention is that it allowed for the parts of the Colombian state to support those who had initial symptoms and the support was also provided for screening of these people. On the other hand, they strengthened our actions with respect to the population coming from Venezuela, especially with respect to access to water, proper hygiene, and housing. Distinguished delegates, despite the important progress made, we still have major challenges ahead of us. The regional response plan has mobilized only the 22% of the $1.4 billion required for 2020 and therefore it's absolutely essential to continue to promote a regional multilateral approach to the world and raise the awareness of our dilemma. Today, more than ever, we need to approach properly the crisis that emerges with Venezuela's migration. The government of Colombia wants to reiterate its gratitude to all our international partners that are committed to this collective effort to rebuild the life, hope, and dignity of migrants and refugees. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. We really appreciate that statement from the Deputy Minister from Colombia. May I now please give the floor to FAO. Thank you very much, Mr Chairman. I'm making the statement on behalf of the FAO. The COVID-19 pandemic has thrown into the spotlight the essential role migrants play in agriculture and in our food systems. It has also highlighted the many vulnerabilities of migrant workers in the sector and the need to improve conditions at work in transport and in their housing as well. We have seen this, for example, in the outbreak amidst migrant labourers on farms and in the meat chicken and seafood processing plants. In addition, large scale of migrants in the agriculture sector work under informal or casual arrangements, which leaves them unprotected, vulnerable to exploitation, poverty, and food insecurity, and often without access to health care, social protection, and response measures being put in place by the respective governments. For the earliest stages of the pandemic, it was already clear that the measures affecting the movement of people internally and internationally and resulting labour shortages would impact agriculture value chains, affect food availability and market prices, and also the impact this would have on lives and livelihoods of migrant workers and their families. And they would be among the most vulnerable groups. In early April, FAO published the Migrant Workers and COVID-19 pandemic, a global policy brief focused on migrant workers and agri-food systems. A regional brief for sub-Saharan Africa has also been published, and the ones for Asia, Latin America, Eastern Europe, and Central Asia are coming soon. As part of our initiative on keeping food and agriculture systems alive during the COVID-19 pandemic, FAO has compiled a database of policies and measures put in place by governments, including analysis of pros and cons for agriculture and food systems, and including the coverage of the issues facing migrant agriculture workers and their families. The database is being continuously updated, and we welcome you to take a look at and also share contributions on policy measures to protect migrant agriculture workers during the pandemic. Mr Chairman, we look forward to continuing our and grow our collaboration and partnerships in this area at global, regional and country levels and not just to meet the immediate needs emerging from this COVID-19 pandemic, but contributing to a longer-term shifts and improvements in the sector and for rural migrants. Thank you, Mr Chairman. Thank you very much, FAO, for that statement. May I call on the permanent mission of Japan, please? Thank you, Mr Moderator, and thank you all the panelists for your valuable information. Ladies and gentlemen, we are now seeing the spread of COVID-19 in all corners of the world, causing the great damage to both people themselves and to socioeconomic activities globally. First with this situation, Japan appreciates and expresses its respect to all IOM staffs working each day under the stay and deliver initiative taken by the Director-General in spite of the risks to their own health. Japan is one of the first countries to react to IOM's appeal against COVID-19 and contributed 9 million U.S. dollars in March to support IOM's work. The contribution covers nine countries, including Iran, Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Myanmar, and goes toward implementing activities such as coordination, risk communication, surveillance and prevention measures at the point of entry in order to support vulnerable people, including women and children. Ladies and gentlemen, we live in a world where economic activities are underpinned by global migration. Accordingly, measures against COVID-19 should be taken globally. As the bill induces threats and risks in many aspects of our lives, it is important to make sure no one is left behind in line with the concept of human security. To this end, Japan will strive to work with international community by continuing to support developing countries in order to achieve the containment of COVID-19, recovery and stabilization of socioeconomic activities and sustainable development. Thank you, Mr. Moderator. Thank you very much, distinguished delegate for the permanent mission of Japan. Next, I would like to call on the permanent mission of Venezuela, who I believe are online. Thank you. Venezuela is thankful to have the opportunity to take the floor at this venue. We have overcome armed conflicts, dictatorships, and many hardships. More than five million people have moved. The current crisis has laid bare the frailties and weaknesses of our current system. We need a system to be able to deal with the foreigners that are in the worst of plights. Venezuela, the interpreter apologizes, the sound is very, very choppy. We're doing what we can. Thank you. Thank you to the permanent mission of Venezuela. Next, I would like to call on the Save the Children Switzerland. My apologies. Save the Children Switzerland. Thank you very much. On behalf of Save the Children, I'd like to thank IOM and distinguished panelists for making a case for safe migration in time of COVID. So, as you may know, for a full century, Save the Children has worked for a world in which children survive, have a chance to learn, and are protected from abuse, neglect, and exploitation. Which means that in all Save the Children's operations, we observed that COVID-19 continues to challenge the protection of migrant and displaced children in all geographies. The virus and the contained measures taken by governments to counter its spread has significantly altered the short and long-term perspectives for enhanced protection systems. Migrant families and displaced children stand out as amongst the most affected, as border have closed, and their journey but off enforceably altered through pushbacks, as we can envision it, deportation, or delays in family reunification, and asylum processes. The immediate consequences of COVID-19 measures in migration and displacement settings range from acute hunger, lack of access to healthcare, lack of access to education, and to any other essential services, such as shelter, water, sanitation, and nutrition. These needs are particularly exacerbated for unaccompanied children and youth, as mentioned by colleagues before, and especially girls on the move, as we can see it, stand out as a priority vulnerable group. In addition, violence at home in the form of xenophobia in host communities, in the shape of increased sexual and gender-based violence, exploitative work, child marriage, risk of arrest and detention, are all observed as increased threats to migrant children and youth in time of COVID. Therefore, through several reports, field-based analysis, and programmatic reviews, we've been able to put forward today some top-line recommendations. One is really in this time of COVID to adapt the child protection services to the current context, which means that case management and referral pathways should be revised to ensure that the most vulnerable children can access such mechanism of case management. Those pathways should also enable the provision of remote psychosocial support, enable protection stakeholders to access reception centers, as well as include emphasis on relevant healthcare, shelter, nutrition, and child-friendly services. Education should also be a must for all children, regardless of their migration status. They should have opportunities to access learning in all relevant languages. Thirdly, all initiatives should be gender-sensitive, not to say gender transformative, and should establish child protection systems to prevent and address gender-based violence within families and communities. As we know, the provision of such services to combat domestic violence and SGBV is essential during the pandemic. Last but not least, all leaders and organizations should ensure that migrant children and youth are being consulted and are not being stigmatized. All stakeholders should be prompted to take actions to respond to any xenophobic campaigns, for instance. Similarly, there can be no forced returns based on real or perceived fear of COVID-19 transmission. Those several top-line recommendations are all extremely vital to contribute to the fulfillment of the SDGs. Thanks to everyone, and thank you, Mr Chairman. Thank you very much to the children. I understand UNMGCY will have to leave fairly quickly, therefore I'm skipping a few in line, and I'm asking UNMGCY to make a statement, brief statement. Thank you very much, moderator, and thanks to the panelists for their insightful presentations. On behalf of the United Nations' Mayor Group for Children and Youth, I would like to make a brief intervention which highlights the indivisible yet challenge link between COVID-19 and human rights. Although there are cases where the pandemic seems to have been leveraged to further restrict the fundamental rights and freedoms of migrants at national level, there have been some relevant attempts to increase assistance and access to basic services for migrant communities, including access to health care and social security. Portugal, for instance, announced to give asylum seekers and migrants with pending applications the same right as permanent residents to access social services, while Spain ensured a work and residence permit to foreign workers involved in the agricultural sector. Remarkably, the Spanish government granted a work and residence permit of two years renewable to young migrants who obtained their first work contract in the agricultural sector. So decreasing migrants' vulnerability and exposition to the coronavirus was not only at the core of some political actions, but also of national courts. Specifically, Madrid's High Court recently ruled that it wouldn't approve recent COVID-19 restrictions imposed on several Spanish cities by the central government because they amount to violation of residents' fundamental freedoms. So beyond the specific case, what is it of utmost interest here is that a state of emergency cannot justify, according to the High Court in Madrid, an unlawful limitation of fundamental rights, even if this operation is deemed necessary to protect another fundamental right, namely the right to health. In a time of severe uncertainty and uncertainty, it is more than ever essential to uphold and safeguard the human rights of all, while fully complying with international obligations stemming from human rights law. Thank you very much for your attention. Thank you very much. May I call on Solida? They're not online. The Holy See, please. Thank you, Mr. Moderator. I have a couple of comments and questions. Pope Francis repeatedly said that it is of utmost importance to ensure a more humane response to migration. So the migrants and other people on the move are fully integrated, not only in emergency responses to COVID-19, but also in their recovery efforts. It is regrettable that amid the pandemic, many migrants have become even more vulnerable than they were previously, a situation that has been complicated by unequal access to adequate medical care. Those who found themselves in irregular situations face even greater hardships. Out of fear of being detained or deported, they may hesitate to seek medical care and may be compelled to accept dangerous work conditions with the amplifier risk of exploitation and abuse. Mr. Moderator, it would, however, be a short-sighted approach to measure the impact of the COVID-19 crisis, only in terms of physical health or in mere economic terms. There are long-term impacts, which also involve the dimension of mental health, as well as, in our perspective, spiritual dimension. A particular concern for the Holy See is the situation of vulnerability among child migrants, especially those unaccompanied by parents or guardians, since often they are invisible and voiceless. There is falling victim to perverse curges, such as child trafficking, exploitation and abuse. No matter where they are or where they come from, all children have individual needs and rights, even when they cross borders. Response policies in this regard must prioritize their best interests at all stages. Keeping this in mind, the Holy See delegation wishes to ask the panelists, hopefully they still can hear us, if they could elaborate on some specific examples of best practices used to address the specific situation of vulnerability among children during the pandemic, including at the local level. Thank you, Mr. Moderator. Thank you very much, Distinguished Representative of the Holy See. We will check if the panelists are still online and hopefully they will be able to respond to your question at the end. May I now pass on to the Distinguished Representative of Guatemala. I do not believe they are present. The Distinguished Representative of Sri Lanka. Director General IOM, Excellencies and Colleagues, the focus of this panel is most timely. It is our hope that this discussion will lead to a better understanding of the challenges and gaps in providing protection and assistance to vulnerable migrants and resort in stronger cooperation between governments and other stakeholders. The magnitude of the crisis caused by firm international responses. In our collective efforts, we must be guided by the global compact for safe, orderly and regular migration as well as a 2030 sustainable development agenda. Mr. Chair, with the COVID-19 pandemic was evolving, approximately 1.5 million migrant workers from Sri Lanka were overseas. Out of this total, about 800,000 are in the Middle East region, 80% of them being semi-skilled female domestic care providers. Sri Lanka accorded high priority towards addressing the immediate concerns of these vulnerable migrant workers, including by creation of a web portal contacts Sri Lanka to gather empirical data, the release of emergency funds to attend to their basic needs, airlifting of dry rations to selected destinations, providing temporary shelter and accommodation, negotiation of alternative employment opportunities and facilitating RT-PCR testing. As of date, 27,802 migrant workers have been repatriated, with accounts to 64% of total repatriation since March 2020. Sri Lanka has sent at least one repatriation flight to almost all the destinations which have a large migrant worker present, with multiple flights to destinations with high numbers. With its own experience, Sri Lanka wishes to draw attention to the following. We urge countries to ensure that migrant workers are provided with access to healthcare facilities, regardless of their migration status, including by providing access to information and testing. Sri Lanka will continue its commitments towards migrant help and has provided healthcare facilities to all, including migrants, regardless of their migration status. In the long run, cooperation between states, as per the international health regulations, on health checks and screening of migrants prior to repatriation, can contribute significantly in controlling outbreaks of disease. We encourage governments to provide relief measures to the most vulnerable among the migrant workers, such as granting amnesties, regularizing of visas, and waiver of penalties and fines, etc. We encourage governments and private agencies to provide redress, ensure payment of due wages, compensations, and entitlements for such migrant workers. We also encourage the IOM, WHO, and ILO, as well as the regional consultation processes, such as the Colombo process, the Abu Dhabi dialogue, and the Bali process, to respond to the immediate and long-term challenges associated with labour migration amidst the COVID-19. We encourage governments to cooperate with each other in facilitating national measures for upskilling and skills recognition through medium and long-term interventions to recover from the socioeconomic impact of COVID-19 crisis. Priorities should be accorded to livelihood options with possible opportunities for re-migration. We thank international organizations, in particular the IOM, for their assistance in COVID-19 preventing measures and assistance to migrant workers. As a country of origin for over 1 million migrant workers, Sri Lanka remains committed to address the root causes that can lead migrant workers into vulnerable situations, including being victim to human trafficking. We appreciate the cooperation and assistance extended towards these efforts by bilateral international partners. At the same time, we wish to note that any mechanism to assist the commitment of a given country without taking into account the specific circumstances and challenges it is confronted with is not constructive. Thank you. Thank you very much, Sri Lanka. UNODC. Good evening from my part of the world and namaste to all the dignitaries present in Geneva and those online. At the outset, I thank the organizers on behalf of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime for the opportunity to make a short statement at this dialogue on migration. The COVID-19 pandemic has swiftly taken hundreds of thousands of lives, infected millions of people, appended economies, led to loss of livelihoods and disrupted every aspect of our life. From UNODC's perspective, this is also an opportunity to address inequality, build stronger social safety nets and social protection systems, and reinforce responses to organized crime in all its forms. While a lot has been spoken about trafficking by Mr. Nick Grano, there is another aspect of smuggling of migrants to consider in the light of the mobility of the migrants. UNODC's research of May this year on migrant smuggling along various routes indicates that COVID-19 related travel restrictions have not stopped migrant smuggling and may in fact in the medium to long term increase demand for migrant smuggling. The COVID-19 crisis is making the smuggling of migrants riskier and more expensive for people who are fleeing persecutions, violence and conflict but it is not stopping these activities, making the migrants further vulnerable to trafficking as well. In the interest of time, UNODC cuts short its statement and recommends the following. Data collection and analysis on the impact of COVID-19 on trafficking in persons and the smuggling of migrants should be strengthened and systematically pursued. COVID-19 responses must be continuously monitored to ensure swift adjustment to emerging trends, increased vulnerabilities and the overall unfolding of the pandemic in various regional and sub-regional contexts. States should take steps to enhance awareness raising efforts to educate the general public on the risks associated with both trafficking and smuggling. Access to justice and service delivery in all steps of the criminal justice continuum must be safeguarded. States should enhance cooperation at the regional and international levels to respond to investigation and prosecution of both these crimes. Lastly, livelihood interventions should be prioritized for those who are most at risk of trafficking and exploitation. UNODC will submit the whole statement in writing to the secretariat later and we stand ready to discuss collaboration with the relevant counterparts and invite them to contact us in that regard. Please find email IDs in your chat box. Thank you once again. Thank you very much UNODC and we really appreciate the fact that you will be sending in your full statement. I see a gentleman on the board. I suppose it's Brazil. Okay, may I now call on the distinguished representative of Brazil? Thank you chair for giving the floor. I'll be brief. Since the beginning of the pandemic, Brazil's Ministry of Foreign Affairs has managed to repatriate more than 27,300 nationals in vulnerable situations. In addition, it has provided institutional support for the return of another 11,500 Brazilian citizens from other countries. After more than five months of uninterrupted work, around 38,800 Brazilian nationals returned to Brazil. Based on the different repatriation operations carried out, we observed that the main difficulties faced by Brazilian citizens abroad involved accommodation restrictions, domestic travel limitations, and lack of information regarding commercial flights. In this sense, Brazil would like to offer some suggestions on how to strengthen the international regime of preparedness to deal with cross-border measures. Brazil suggests strengthening data sharing and information between the health authorities of neighboring countries about lessons learned in commenting the pandemic. Moreover, technical cooperation should be emphasized, especially between hospitals and health professionals from bordering cities. With the aim to strengthen institutional cooperation, Brazil believes it is important to foster high-level political meetings and diplomatic relations between the authorities of neighboring countries. This cooperation is essential to face common challenges, such as the repatriation of nationals, medical treatment for third-country nationals, and the planning of future health cooperation actions. Thank you very much. Thank you very much, Brazil. Thank you, moderator. My delegation would like to congratulate the IOM on organizing this meeting, and would also like to congratulate the panelists for their interventions. We are at the convergence of three regions, and we are an area of transit for migrants. And the issues within the region have meant that we are also a country of destination for asylum seekers. We are used to having people who are naturally vulnerable, in particular children, who need particular care, especially in this time of the pandemic. Moderator, in order to manage efficiently the migration issues, we have looked at international, regional, and national legislation. And in addition to the GCM, we have looked at the International Convention on the Protection of Migrants and Their Families. And on a regional level, we have used the work of the African Union and the International and the Free Mobility Movement, and we've been looking at the action plans so that we can manage migration correctly. On a subregional level, ECOWAS has been an institutional framework and a reference point for the management of migration. And so on a national level, we've drawn up a national action plan and adopted it. Protection of migrants in vulnerable situations, in particular children, mean that we have set up a transit zone for unaccompanied minors and where we take care of children at risk. We have also taken measures to ensure that we protect migrant children, and we have given nationality to all children who have been found or whose parents cannot be located. In order to ensure the security and well-being of all in our response to the COVID-19 pandemic, my delegation thinks that international solidarity and inclusion of all, in particular migrants who are in precarious situations, is essential. Thank you. Thank you, Sam. Distinguished representative of Bangladesh. Madam, may I ask you to switch on your mic? Thank you. Thank you, Mr. moderator. My delegation thank IOM for organizing this international dialogue. I also thank the distinguished panelists for their insightful presentations. Migrants significantly contribute to the socioeconomic development of both countries of destination and countries of origin. Yet millions of migrants across the continents remain vulnerable during their movement. Their vulnerabilities are compounded after reaching the destination countries due to the lack of sufficient protection measures at the national, regional and global levels. The migrants suffer from abuse, exclusion, discrimination and neglect. They face even inadequate and often unequal access to healthcare, decent jobs and livelihood opportunities. The COVID-19 pandemic has further aggravated the vulnerabilities of the migrants. Millions of migrants have already lost their jobs. There is no guarantee that they would get back their jobs. A significant number of them even faced forced return. We have also witnessed an escalation in the hatred and xenophobia against migrants redoubling their vulnerabilities. The pandemic has indeed brought an uncertain future to millions of migrants from the developing countries. Mr. moderator, in the post pandemic socioeconomic scenario, the vulnerabilities of the migrants would potentially be compounded given that the major bulk of the labour migrants are from the developing countries. However, migrants will have to be part of the solution as underlined by the United Nations Secretary General. In this context, Bangladesh underlines the following. First, a rights-based approach to the migration has to be adopted with a particular focus on migrants' health, job and livelihood security during this pandemic and its aftermath. Second, migrants should be included in the national COVID-19 response plans and policies of countries of destination and all migrants irrespective of their status must get equal access to health care. Third, migrants who have lost jobs should be guaranteed a reappointment once situation comes back to normalcy. Fourth, labour migrants must be appropriately compensated in the context where termination and or return is of absolute necessity. Fifth, private sector needs to play its due role to protect the rights of labour migrants irrespective of the migratory status. I thank you, sir. Thank you very much. I now go to the distinguished representative of the Netherlands. Thank you very much, chairman. Dear colleagues, as discussed this morning, the COVID-19 pandemic has had unprecedented global consequences on people and on mobility. The crisis does, however, also provide the opportunity to build forward together, to build back better. For example, by building upon local resilience. In addressing this crisis, we cannot lose sight of those vulnerable groups whose vulnerabilities have been exacerbated by this crisis. And in this context, there are two priorities that we would like to highlight. First of all, when providing assistance and protection, it is important to recognize the tool that the crisis and the consequence of the crisis take on people's mental health and psychosocial well-being. Mental health and psychosocial support is essential to support resilience and contributes to successful social, economic and cultural outcomes for migrants, for the families and for the host communities and should therefore be given adequate attention in our response. The Netherlands finances the provision of protection assistance, including the mental health and psychosocial support to vulnerable migrants in North Africa, West Africa and the Middle East, and has continued to support during the crisis. We do commend IOM on its efforts to assist migrants who find themselves in precarious situations, such as those migrants who are stranded, including by creating humanitarian corridors in cooperation with countries of origin to allow those stranded migrants to return home while taking the necessary precautions to keep all involved safe and healthy. This morning, it was already mentioned that women and girls and people who identify as LGBT plus are particularly vulnerable in the COVID situation. Therefore, the second priority that we would like to highlight is gender. Gendered expectations, relationships and power dynamics affect all aspects of the migration process. It is crucial to examine the gendered aspects of challenges and situations of vulnerability to ensure that gender-specific protection gaps are addressed and that women and men benefit equally from assistance. My country mainstreams protection and empowerment of women and girls and people who identify as LGBT plus into its programs, including migration programs. We would call on all partners participating in these dialogues to give proper attention to both mental health and psychosocial support and to the protection of women, girls and LGBTQI in their interventions in order to build back better together. Thank you. Thank you very much. Much appreciated. Distinguished representative of Montenegro. Hello. First of all, thank you very much for this opportunity to share experience of Montenegro on the life of pandemic COVID-19. We cannot hear you. Could you unmute yourself, madam? Do you hear now, maybe? Yes, we do. Please proceed. Sorry, sorry. Just first of all, I want to thank you very much for the opportunity to share our experience in the life of pandemic COVID-19. With our efforts so far, with the fulfillment of the highest level of humanity and responsibility Montenegro has achieved the result that there was not a single person in this category that was infected with the coronavirus. With the appearance of the first cases of COVID-19 infection in the countries of the region, the Ministry of Interior held a meeting with representatives of the Institute of Public Health in order to take all actions in time to prevent the spread of COVID-19 infection. Among these populations contain specific instructions on the need for enhanced medical supervision and the use of protective equipment. Following that given instructions, measures are taken to disinfect yards and facilities for foreigners seeking international protections reside. In addition to the distribution of information materials, flyers and posters in six languages, which contain image and text information on protection measures and action in case of possible symptoms, general hygiene measures have been strengthened. Montenegro has managed to train the relevant services to respond to the challenges, these situations and adapt perception centers to this challenge by improving sanitary infrastructure, promoting information on risks and prevention measures of COVID-19 and providing all levels of health care. Particular care is taken to enable the realization of human rights in particularly challenging situations with COVID-19's rooted systematic approach, the strengthening of health controls and the engagement of additional medical staff in the centers for the reception of foreigners seeking international protections. Aware of the need for the pandemic to have an impact on the process of social inclusion, alternative ways are taken into account for measures of social inclusion and integration of these persons during the pandemic. Our basic recommendations is to strengthen reception capacities for persons seeking international protections through the uniform applications of international standards and on the principle of non-reformant. It is also necessary to organize. Awareness rising combines to combat discriminations and xenophobia towards migrants as this is a way to openly support vulnerable migrants during and after COVID-19. Thanks once again. Thank you very much. Much appreciated. May I now call on the global policy insights. Policy insights. My name is Caroline Rokosiewicz-Jachowski. I would thank the IOM, this panel, all with me with Jeff, ladies and gentlemen, for allowing me to speak and represent this organization at this event. I will be brief. With the resurgence of COVID in urban communities, it is our responsibility as global citizens, members of civil society, multi-stakeholders and high-level state officials to prevent a generation of youth being left behind. It is critical to reintegrate migrant youth into the international and intergenerational dialogue during this time. COVID has exacerbated inequalities and disproportionately impacted migrant youth and young entrepreneurs. Migrants living in overcrowded urban settlements are especially at risk during the pandemic. They do not have the access to health care or perhaps even the information on the sanitation practices needed to prevent contraction and transmission and may further endanger people they come into contact with. These individuals have the potential to contribute to economic growth but due to poor urban management and lack of economic opportunity, they do not have the capacity to add to human capital and of course into disconnected neighborhoods and situations of poverty. Youth are especially at risk in these communities. Many youth migrants are who are unable to be secure, who are unable to enter the secure formal employment and yet are still asked to contribute to family income are forced into seeking informal employment, which is far more perilous to the economic health and educational potential of these youth migrants. In 2020, this is simply unacceptable. GPI Global Policy Insights therefore calls on government cooperation and prioritization of investing in youth potential through quality education and investing in low and high-tech educational materials as well as decent work and economic growth through the investment in MSNEs and supporting young entrepreneurs and intergenerational mobility. Especially during the recovery phase, governments and community members must prioritize the guarantee of allocated resources to manage waste and distribution information and resources for sanitation and hygiene to migrants and especially migrant youth. It is equally vital that we offer mental health and health services to these individuals that they may get tested and treated during these uncertain times to minimize the risk of contraction and spread. If possible, we must provide ICTs and broadband to these communities as well to keep them informed of developments and measures to keep them safe. More than ever, we must foster inclusive employment opportunities and develop accelerator programs to reintegrate those unemployed young migrants and those living in poverty through innovative decent work and formal employment opportunities. And finally, we must ensure clean drinking water and access to education for the young people in these areas as COVID-19 has posed a great barrier in continuing their education through remote learning because it not only limited the ability to access low-tech resources such as books and basic supplies, but also is not inclusive for obtaining the digital technology that some individuals have to pursue a remote education. This is a major concern for the intellectual and physical development of young people in this demographic and we must do all in our power to prevent an entire generation of young people being left behind. If I may also pose a question to Ms. Wu, there is a follow-up after this. I'm a young professional and social entrepreneur by trade, passionate about education development and the integration of decent work for young people. How can others like myself leverage partnerships with members of civil society and the private sector to ensure this generation of vulnerable youth migrants are not left behind as we navigate through the conditions of this pandemic? Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Medical Students Federation. Thank you, Mr. Moderator. On behalf of the International Federation of Medical Students Association, I would like to give the following statement. Distinguished panelists, ladies and gentlemen, the COVID-19 pandemic has exceeded being a health emergency. Turning into a global humanitarian crisis with its human, physical, economic, or even environmental effect, burdening communities and putting human welfare in danger. In addition, health is not only about health care, but it also entails a multitude of underlying factors and determinants that all together contribute to the overall health status of individuals and populations. This intersectional nature of health has also added a different dimension to the effects of COVID-19 on health beyond only the state of infection itself. These mass and often under-considered effects of the pandemic have especially impacted vulnerable populations, exacerbating existing and creating new susceptibilities. Vulnerabilities are many and intersectional, and hence making different populations experiencing different vulnerabilities. This has resulted in a special and unique aftermath of COVID-19 for migrants and populations on the move. The infodemic resulted in the spread of stigmatization and increased discrimination, adding further barriers and health efforts and halting efforts and progress towards inclusion of migrants in their new societies. Marginalization has also been further re-emphasized in the emergency responses, with actions and measures being not sensitive and inconsiderate to the different vulnerabilities migrants face. Eventually, access to medicine and health care services has also been affected. Yet, when migrants move their rights, including the right to health, must move with them. The International Federation of Medical Students Associations believed that the proactive addressing of inequalities is essential to minimize the health, social and economic impact of any crisis for all populations. In addition, we would like to recall the people-centered vision of the UN 2030 agenda to leave no one behind. Emergency response should be inclusive and sensitive to the different needs and challenges faced by different components of communities, including migrants. Therefore, the International Federation of Medical Students Associations calls on all involved key actors to adopt the whole government and whole-of-society approach to emergency responses while ensuring to reach the furthest behind first. We call also on governments to proactively identify the needs of migrants and take measures to ensure their full integration into their communities and fulfillment of their rights, including access to health care services. And finally, we also call on governments to establish and reinforce comprehensive national migrant health policies that respect human rights, are multi-sectoral, participatory, and inclusive for migrants in civil society. And ensuring that national migrant health policies are based on the UN 2030 agenda for sustainable development and the extension of universal health coverage. Thank you. Thank you. Much appreciated. Distinguished representative of Qatar. Thank you, Chair, ladies and gentlemen. Addressing the social and economic impact of the COVID-19 in an effective way required a coordinated policy response that covers all groups in society, including migrant workers, especially vulnerable migrants, by guaranteeing universal access to information, health care, social and psychological support, and other measures of protection implemented by states. In this context, the government of Qatar has taken a series of measures for the protection of all expatriate workers in the context of COVID-19, paying special attention to vulnerable groups such as domestic workers, knowing that most of them are women. These measures include providing free testing and health care to all expatriate workers, regardless of their status, launching an SMS campaign, targeting the health and rights of domestic workers during COVID-19, through series of messages sending to domestic workers and their employers where translated in 13 languages in coordination with sending countries the government facilitated and provided a free transportation for expatriate workers who wish to retain to their country of origin, provide shelters with adequate conditions for vulnerable expatriate workers respecting health requirement and protection against the spirit of COVID-19, ensuring a payment of wages and financial assistance of expatriate workers who face non-payment or delay payment of wages, providing psychological support, services by mental health professionals through the help line, launching an interactive online platform and quarantine workers can get support and have live one-on-one chats and 10 languages. Thank you for your attention. Thank you very much. May I now call on the distinguished representative of Morocco. Thank you, Mr. Moderator. At the outset, I would like to thank IOM for convening this edition of the IDM under the unusual and the special circumstances. Mr. Moderator, migrants and people on the move face the same health threats from the COVID-19 as a host population but may face particular vulnerabilities due to the circumstances of their journeys and the poor living conditions and working traditions in which they can find themselves or obstacles in accessing to health care. Many migrants and refugees are already struggling to survive around the world and failing to counter the spread of the virus at crowded settings, which could undercut any success in containing the outbreak and enable it to spread further thus causing devastating consequences. As the world confronts the COVID-19 pandemic, we call on that all migrants regardless of their migratory status, refugees and displaced persons are included in national and international efforts to mitigate and roll back the impact and consequences of the pandemic. We also welcome the IOM COVID-19 Global Strategic Preparedness and Response Plan which covers all regions of the world and comprises a wide range of ongoing and planned activities. Further, it is important that migrants and refugees are included in measures that are being introduced to mitigate the economic downturn caused by COVID-19. With an estimation of 25 million persons losing their jobs worldwide because of the economic slowdown and possible recession, migrants and refugees will remain among the most vulnerable population groups to be affected and at risk of stigmatization. Mr. Moderator, no country today can deal alone with the impact of the coronavirus, both economically and socially. Only with an inclusive approach and international cooperation, we can overcome this global crisis of unprecedented magnitude and proportion. In the continental level, Morocco launched under the leadership of His Majesty King Mohammed VI, a pragmatic and action-oriented approach. In order to create an operational framework for the fight against the pandemic in Africa, this initiative is dedicated to share experiences and best practices in dealing with the pandemic and has enabled channeling support and assistance to more than 15 brotherly countries in Africa covering all sub-regions. In the national level, Morocco adopted a comprehensive approach as a reaction of COVID-19 based on solidarity, anticipation, prevention and citizen-centered, particularly for the most vulnerable. This plan has targeted, above all, improving the public health system, mitigating the social economic impact and also channeling financial resources for COVID-19 special funds and mobilizing the national industry in order to produce necessary health and protective equipment. In the regional and local level, the competent authorities, as well as civil society actors, are amplifying and federating efforts in order to support and assist migrants, refugees and asylum seekers throughout the country in these difficult times. Mr. Moderator, in closing, I would like to reaffirm that, as was said before, the pandemic has demonstrated that no one can be safe until everyone is safe. It is though important for an inclusive approach which leaves no one behind in order to achieve the safety and well-being of all. I thank you. Thank you very much. Finally, the distinguished representative of Tunisia. You have the floor. Thank you, Mr. Moderator. Thank you, Chairman, for giving me the floor. I want to congratulate Ion for organizing this extremely useful dialogue in these difficult circumstances. Mr. Director, we need to protect vulnerable migrants during the pandemic. It's to become aware of the situation, not only nationally, but also internationally. Tunisia has adopted an approach that's respectful of human rights and international humanitarian law as well as the principles of international solidarity. All this was reflected in the decision of the Security Council of the United Nations pursuant to Tunisia's initiative for a humanitarian ceasefire so that humanitarian aid could travel and migrants could also travel to study the effects of the pandemic on those most vulnerable among us. On a national level, Tunisia took measures covering all foreigners. We set up a committee to provide follow-up on the humanitarian situation of those most vulnerable. We extended stays in our country. We also launched different platforms and facilitated integration in the labor market and also provided specific training. I also want to highlight that Tunisia looks out for the respect and rights of all individuals without any discrimination on its soil. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Much appreciated. I know there has been one question at least from the distinguished representative of the Holy See. I'm not quite sure if the panelists are still there or are able to speak. If they can, may I give them half a minute to quickly respond half a minute, one minute to respond to that question which was about good practices in child protection. Unfortunately, does it seem that it's possible in which case I would say we would include it in the report and get their responses in writing which should be for other to you directly. On that note, I would like to close this session. Thank you very much for all your participation, active participation including the panelists. The protection of vulnerable migrants clearly has attracted quite a lot of attention judging from the staggering numbers of statements that we received and we've seen today. I believe that it will continue to be one of the major challenges that we'll be facing in response to the pandemic and something we need to seriously take into account in the recovery from this challenge. Have a good day. Thank you. We'll quickly go to the next panel. I just would like to invite the only participants that will be live here to come to the floor and also to invite our moderator who will be online moderate to this panel for the Q and I session those that would like to actually to speak something from the room I will collect and I will moderate that part meaning after the panel itself. Please go ahead. I hope that actually everybody are online.